Rio Cimarron

Rio Cimarron is a nice tailwater fishery with a lot of Brown Trout. The stream is located in northern New Mexico in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

This trip the fishing conditions were rough. The water was flowing at 15 cFS and super clear. The fish were wary because of the clarity of the water and would spook at 25 feet. The morning I fished it, the fishing was slow; several fish were caught amoung three of us with the largest at 16 inches long. I nymphed and my fishing buddies used a dry and a dropper.

Here is Rod B. of Amarillo, TX with the first trout of the day.

A Compliment

I recieved this compliment from David C. who's dog I was working on for awhile.

Hello Thomas,

How are thing going with the new dog. This morning I went for a run along the ditch bank next to hay fields. When I got close to some tall grass Akita was bouncing like crazy. She came to a complete point and I left her at point for a minute then I started to walking to her. When I came about fifteen feet I yelled "get em" and she flushed 2 pheasants five feet from her like a season pro. Thanks for your help.

Akita came to me at one year old and didn't have any formal training. Unfortunately, the owner had to pull her out of training. Here is a short clip.

Seven Eights of number Eights.

Now that the wingshooting season is over, most of the gear has been put away until next season. However, to get some practice in with the shotgun and have some great fun is to continue shooting by hitting the sporting clay range. Since I use a Spanish SXS for my upland hunting and sporting clays, I reload for it. Normally, when I am hunting upland, pheasants for example, I reload one oz. of #6 shot. When I am on the sporting clay range, I use a different load that works well - 7/8's of #8 shot. Here is the recipe for this particular load. It should give me about 1,200 fps.

• Hulls: AA


• Wads: TGT 12


• Primer: W209


• Shot: 7/8 of #8 shot


• Bushing: #30


• Powder: 16.6 Red Dot
  

Bird Introductions to Maks

This was Maks first bird introduction. He may had some exposure to pigeons at his breeders kennel but I wouldn't know that. I think things went well. He showed no fear even when the bird fluttered its wings.

Tizona Retrieving

Maks

Maks is a Vizsla. This pointing dog is originally from Hungary and is said to be an old breed. Maks (pronounced mox) is six months old. It is sure a different change to have an almost puppy around. His basic commands are good, I have to reenforce them. Soon, will be an introduction to birds.